Thu, 27 Jul 2017 21:18:31 -0700WeeblyFri, 21 Jul 2017 06:35:55 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/making-a-difference-why-i-work-in-a-nhs-research-and-development-department-by-klrogers5-professional-perspectiveI’ve worked in research quite a long time. In comparison to my lifespan this is a third of my life, pretty unbelievable when I think of it like that! I wanted to share with you my journey of how I got here and reasons why I ‘do’ research. ​My career in research started in an organisation running global health studies as a Clinical Trial Assistant (CTA). It was purely by chance, I worked in global mobility before and after a potential redundancy scare, it made me think about what I would find fulfilling for work. Being a CTA allowed me to gain a huge knowledge base relating to trial management and I was fortunate to work on a programme of global studies which meant I had exposure to study set-up right through to database lock and study close-out and all the requirements of global trials. I loved it there, I had autonomy and although I couldn’t directly see the clinical benefits I felt I was moving in the right direction. I later moved to another role within the same organisation to learn about the bid development aspects of clinical trials. I like to know the wider picture to know where my puzzle piece fits in.

I loved the work at this organisation but felt I needed to be ‘making a difference’ and working within this environment didn’t always give me that. I was offered a role within University of Southampton Clinical Trials Unit as Quality and Regulatory Officer. This was fantastic! I was supporting University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust (UHS) work and therefore my immediate local community. I had exposure to a huge range of trials and responsibilities in my role. This varied from supervising the Pharmacovigilance management for trials to teasing out queries in relation to protocol deviations and GCP adherence.

​I still had the desire to be ‘making a difference’ to patients directly. This led me to become a Research Facilitator in a community Trust. I was not only coordinating research but recruiting patients as well. I have fond memories of some of the patients who joined studies whose lives were changed by their participation. I found the role a huge learning curve, with some experiences that took me out of my comfort zone and helped me consider where my skill base was – in the facilitation and management of research.

​When considering a new role at this point I wanted to explore an aspect of research which was quite unknown to me – funding. I’d had involvement in some grant applications but I wanted to explore this area to obtain a holistic view of the research management process. I became an Assistant Research Manager at NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre. I found the experience invaluable and it helped in my understanding of the funding decisions including being able to attend a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) board meeting which was enlightening in a way I didn’t expect. There can be a perception that research in medicine is an ‘old boy’s club’ but attending this board meeting allowed me to see the decision making processes and academic/specialist input from each and every board member.

Having this experience under my belt, I wanted to return to an environment where I was working directly with researchers who support patients day to day. I started working as a Research Facilitator at UHS. This role allows me to use every part of the knowledge I have gained – as such I am completing my own puzzle. Day to day, my role will vary greatly – it may be meeting with a PI to discuss a potential new study, advising nursing staff about implementing GCP requirements or protocol queries. I see my role in R&D as an extension of the delivery teams and work hard to tease out issues and work alongside them to ensure effective research delivery.[i] No day is the same and there is always a new challenge! ​My latest career development has led me to a new role as Clinical Trial Project Manager at UHS – I will be providing sponsor oversight for the Clinical Trial Investigational Medical Product (CTIMP) studies. I am very excited for this new opportunity and what it may bring!

Research & Development – a term which is cited in Sergen’s Medical Dictionary (2012) to define ‘work which is designed to provide new knowledge, the finding of which are potentially of value to those facing similar problems elsewhere (i.e. generalisable) and the findings are open to critical examination and accessible to all who benefit from them (i.e. work is intended for public).’ Within this definition lies the answer as to why I work in an R&D department. As much as my role is to support research delivery and iron out issues, it is also to help grow and inspire the research culture in new staff, junior researchers and established clinicians looking for novel treatments to improve patient outcomes.

​I work in UHS R&D because it gives me the ability to use my knowledge and experience to support our Trust values – putting patients first, working together and always improving. I may not have the medical background to help treat a patient for a certain condition but I am skilled in being able to assist the staff that do this. THAT is my reason for why I do research. I am driven by my interest in trial conduct for the improvement for healthcare and working in R&D provides me with the platform to ‘make a difference’ despite not being in a patient facing role. My journey to this realisation has been a long, winding road but I would not change it for anything!​

]]>Mon, 22 May 2017 10:20:02 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/a-day-in-the-life-by-lancashire-care-research-team​Monday morning and the Lancashire Care Research team arrive 1 by 1 with tales of weekend frivolities, argumentative children and endless DIY projects. The usual fight for the kettle and need for the caffeine fix ensues until everyone is settled with a steaming cup. Laptops out, diaries open and everyone gets ready to begin the week. 10million emails to read, endless lists of the tasks ahead and furrowed brows as we wade through the piles of last week’s admin and data.

​The nurses see Mr X twice this week for an Alzheimer’s study with his wife. They tell them that they hope their involvement will help their grandchildren. Mrs X cries to a nurse whilst her husband is in an assessment and is given a cup of tea and time just to talk things through. Doctors and support staff complete physical examinations and blood tests and make sure the couple are well at each visit. There are many home visits for various questionnaire studies looking at quality of life, healthy lifestyles, inpatient experiences etc. Managers have teleconferences with people on the other side of the world to make sure we are giving everyone the best care. Time is spent developing an engagement campaign to help people become more aware of the opportunities that are available to them right here on their doorsteps. The campaign is called ‘get the research bug’ we aim to create a buzz about research and showcase what it’s really all about.

Clinical studies officers go and present research to clinical teams and try and spread enthusiasm about what we do. Contracts are signed off, files are maintained, and data is collected, meetings are conducted. Discovery and change are happening with every task completed by every member of the team.

https://www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk/

Friday evening and we all sigh with satisfaction, there are still lists and unread emails, piles of paperwork and overflowing desks but as we wave and smile to each other, say ‘have a lovely weekend’ and ‘I’m glad it’s Friday’ we all know that our week’s efforts have not been in vain and that everything we have done will contribute to change. It is largely unspoken but we are all proud of what we do and we go home believing in the hope of a brighter future.

We go home to our sons with asthma, daughters with anxiety, husbands with high blood pressure, neighbours with depression, brothers with cancer, Friends with multiple sclerosis, Grandads in heart failure and Grandmas with Alzheimer ’s disease.. . . and we do research because we can change the world.

​https://www.lancashirecare.nhs.uk/Clinical-Trials

]]>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 11:32:56 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/staff-are-patients-too-by-gemmaspearce-patient-and-staff-perspectiveHello, my name is Gemma Pearce and I have two different hats when it comes to research. But as I am just one person, I would really rather just have one hat that I wear all the time.

Professionally, I am a researcher at the Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research (@covuni_CTEHR) at Coventry University in the UK. My research passion is finding out what matters to people with long-term conditions and how best to support them (us!)

​Personally, I am a patient with multiple long-term conditions. Over the last year or so, my health drastically deteriorated as my genetic migraine condition escalated to daily migraine. I couldn’t get out of bed, think straight or lift my head to drink water. Over my long recovery journey (something that is very much still on-going), I have been diagnosed with additional conditions: Ehlors-Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type, Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, Mast Cell Activation Disorder and Histamine Intolerance. These are all conditions that are not well recognised or understood, and so it is very hard to get diagnoses and treatment. It has been a struggle working out how to manage these different but linked conditions into my life and returning to work. I would have loved it if more research had been carried out on these conditions, and I would like to support research so it is better for others in the future.

During this road to recovery, I was asked to write this blog. I wasn’t well enough to do it then, but I am writing it now to say that researchers, and staff more generally such as healthcare professionals, can be patients too.​With my patient hat on, I am currently taking part in research for people with migraine to support self-management and return-to-work. It seems strange that I can either be part of a research project as a researcher or as a patient. I think that as a patient who is also a researcher, I can add valuable insight on both sides. NHS England is running a campaign arguing that staff and patient experience are ‘two sides of the same coin’ (check out @KarenDeeny1). Not only do they affect each other, but they can be the same people. Obviously it is important to have a range of patient representatives as part of the research team, but it would be great if ‘staff-patient’ could be one of them.

I do research because I am a researcher AND a patient. I want to find out how to improve things in the future with all of those involved in the process, so it is something that works sustainably in practice and helps others.

]]>Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:16:46 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/putting-a-human-face-on-research-how-whywedoresearch-has-helped-raise-awareness-at-salfordrdRaising awareness of research is one of the key ways our team – Salford Royal’s R+D Engagement and Communications team – helps our colleagues at the sharp end do their job.

A big sign in our office says ‘Facilitate participation’. It’s a constant reminder that we’re here to help people get involved and to help researchers recruit into their studies. One thing we emphasise over and over again – with colleagues, patients and the public – is that research isn’t something frighteningly clever going on in laboratories (although it can be) but that it is a normal part of the NHS, something quite routine that patients and others can help with.

The #whywedoresearch campaign has been a great way for us to talk about that message and to put a human face on research.

Here at Salford Royal, we’ve now been involved for more than two years and have had around 300 photos and messages – and I don’t think we’ve ever had the exact same words twice. It’s become part of our branding of research – so that we now have 20 big posters around the hospital site using some of the pictures and messages to encourage patients and visitors to think about the benefits of our studies. We also have a pull-up banner to take to events and our section of the staff intranet features more #whywedoresearch messages.

Sometimes campaigns run out of steam after a few months but we’ve found that people are still interested in taking part – and of course, it’s much easier to get people involved when they’re already aware of what it’s about.

We’ll never be able to say ‘job done’ with raising awareness of research but thanks to this campaign, we’ve made some great strides.

​

]]>Mon, 30 Jan 2017 19:00:34 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/-i-met-this-man-in-a-bar-by-adrianparrott-personal-and-professional-perspectiveI was ordering a round of drinks in a bar when an elderly gentleman sitting at the bar said to me “Hi, not seen you in here before, are you from this area”. “Yes”, I replied, “I’ve worked in the Town for 2 years”. “Who do you work for?” he asked. “Pharma Company X*” I replied. On hearing this the man held my elbow and said “I’d like to thank you, really thank you. Your company saved my life. I had prostate cancer and without Product* I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t have met my Grandchildren”.

At this time I’d worked as a clinical trial statistician in the pharma industry for a few years. My role involved designing, analysing and presenting the results of clinical trials. This was a fascinating role. Being involved in defining the “question” that needed to be answered by a clinical trial, designing a trial to answer the “question” and then obtaining the results and seeing the “answer” to the question. It was more than this too, once we had an answer we then went on to use it. This frequently involved combining results of a number of clinical trials in a development programme to submit to government agencies across the World with the objective of being given permission (a licence) to sell the new pharmaceutical product and therefore allow patients to be treated with it.

​Whilst I had been part of teams responsible for creating clinical trials and also getting new drugs licenced, the man in the bar was the first time I had met someone who had directly benefitted by things my company and colleagues had done. For reasons of patient confidentiality a large number of people involved in ‘research’ will never meet a patient in their research. To many people working in research, all they see is anonymous datasets, data points, endpoints, numbers of patients who did this, that, or the other. Sometimes it is difficult to comprehend the ‘humans’ who the numbers are about. It is good to meet those who benefit like the gentleman in the bar, it would be good to see those who contribute to the research. This is where the difference lies.

​The answer to whywedoresearch is at many levels. Ultimately it is more than to answer a research question (Research Objective), because in many cases there is a reason why that question needs to be answered, e.g. what impact is intended on future healthcare as a result of this research (Healthcare Objective). If you drill down as to ‘why’ the research is being undertaken you finally comprehend the value that will be delivered to others once the results come through. While some of the stakeholders in the research understand the ultimate reason, many stakeholders do not and this includes the patients, staff and doctors. In contrast it is the patients and doctors who are the success or failure of the research (without patients there would be no research) as they often consider the human element of whywedoresearch (i.e. Patient Objective). We all play a part but very few people see it from all sides.

I’ve now been in and around clinical research for well over 20 years. I’ve met a wide range of people in commercial and non-commercial settings, regulatory agencies, prescribers, fund holders and grant providers. Combining what I have learned from them with my logical background as a Statistician then my take on whywedoresearch is as follows:

If all stakeholders could see the full cycle of research it would benefit everyone. I do wonder how many stakeholders (patients, researchers, doctors, R&D managers etc) ever find out (or equally have interest) in the ultimate outcome of the research, let alone the results of the research.

I regret not buying the man in the bar a drink. At the time I didn’t fully understand the importance of what he taught me, if I had I would have chatted more with him and certainly bought him a pint of Boddingtons. We are involved in research because of others, not ourselves.

And finally my personal take on #whywedoresearch is from my eldest son William, born at 28 weeks and had a battle with life

​* Company and Product will remain nameless for reasons of commercial promotion.

]]>Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:54:10 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/enhancing-world-health-together-by-mesmglobalMy name is Kathryn and I’m an Account Manager at MESM – a clinical trials company based in the UK, supplying medical equipment and ancillaries to global trial sites. We cover sourcing, supply, servicing, removal of equipment, and end of study reporting. ​We know that it’s easy to become caught up in the minutiae of our jobs and overlook the research participants and their families, who should be at the centre of what we do. We thought we’d talk about that in this blog post.

Last month, we invited a guest to speak to our team about her family’s experience in a clinical trial. She’s a business owner, wife and mum, whose husband was injured in a bike accident. He was invited to join a head trauma drug trial run by a team of research nurses at the hospital.

Hearing his story helped us reflect on the contribution patients make when they agree to take part in research; and there were a lot of learnings for us as clinical trial professionals, around how we can strive to put patients first when we’re planning and implementing research.

We’ve written a longer blog post on our website where we talk more about this patient story and discuss the learnings in more detail, but we wanted to share some key learnings here.

Research participants are real peopleIt’s important to centre participants’ well-being, for the benefit of patients and the research outcomes. The research team for the patient we heard about brought consistency among a stream of changing faces, and clearly viewed him as a whole person, which was really positive to hear about.

The idea of a clinical trial can be frighteningWhen it comes to recruiting patients for trials, it’s important to explain in accessible language what the benefits are for the patient, the wider impact their contribution could have, and how their safety and welfare will be managed.

Clinical trials can be precariousResearchers may be working under very time constrained, complex conditions. For us, it’s important we remember that if a piece of equipment is not exactly where it needs to be at the correct time, this could have a serious impact on the research.

Do we do enough follow up?After the trial, our guest’s family were never informed whether the drug was approved. It was powerful to hear her talk about this, and it made us think about whether the research industry can do better at updating participants about their contributions to the drug development process.​

We are involved in research because we want to help enhance world health together, and communities like #WhyWeDoResearch help us remember why we’re here.

]]>Sun, 18 Dec 2016 17:20:27 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/whywedoresearch-a-strong-light-in-social-media-by-derekcstewart-obeHappy birthday #WhyWeDoResearch and many happy returns! A bright two year old toddler. No longer a baby. Bursting with energy, full of confidence and incessent enquiry. Opening doors, reaching into cupboards, stretching out to reach and touch the world with brightness, enthusiasm and joy.

It is therefore a great pleasure to be invited to write this post for #WhyWeDoResearch, as we have grasped over an incredible 200 million impressions. Every impression with the potential to light a fire in someone's thoughts and actions to speak up about research.

I love the tweetchats. I am thrilled by the company and the illumination brought by the enthusiasm, range of discussion and making new friends. Thanks to @ClaireW_UK (Claire Whitehouse) and @keeling_michael (Michael Keeling) for setting it alight.

Light helps us during challenging moments in our lives and the darkest months of the year as we move from the Diwali celebration of light to Christmas with lights in windows that we should take a moment to reflect.

These days it is the light that illuminates the screens of our phones, tablets and computers providing information, knowledge, messages and virtually everything else. There is a strong and healthy association between light, learning and truth.

#WhyWeDoResearch gives us the opportunities to learn. It gives us the chance to have a big worldwide conversation on such a variety of interests in research related to health and social care. Sometimes that dialogue happens in direct messaging or in quite specific areas of the research world.

#WhyWeDoResearch is a means of bringing together those of us involved in research. We are involved to improve people's health and well being through rigorous research and the application of non-biased evidence.

The challenge therefore, for all of us in research, is that 'post-truth' became word of the year in the Oxford dictionary. It appeared gradually in the general lexicon particularly through the recent electioneering. Evidence and experts were similarly disparaged as of being little value.

We have confirmation that shows an increasingly strong relationship between research active establishments and improved health outcomes. People would seem to live longer in research active hospitals. Will others believe this to be true. Will our words be believed?

You can follow Derek's blog here http://derek-online.blogspot.co.uk/

I am a passionate advocate that we have to talk more about research, to help people know where to take part, to reach out to those voices that are seldom heard, to connect with others in face to face meetings and through digital technology. I want therefore to see us reach 500 million impressions, to reach out to new groups and more patients.

"Lights flicker from an opposite loft" Bob Dylan

I don't really mind whether #WhyWeDoResearch is seen as a campaign, a community, a network, a discussion forum, a dialogue or just a chance to let off steam. The light is on so let's make it brighter, better and seen by even more people.

Many, many happy returns and let the torches shine light on high quality research, evidence and its applications.

You can follow Derek:Twitter: @DerekCStewartBlog: ​http://derek-online.blogspot.co.uk/ ​You can watch the #WhyWeDoResearch milestones and second birthday video by clicking the video clip below...

A 'Hub' is created where a number of individuals from one institution, establishment or patient group wish to link together to act as #WhyWeDoResearch Ambassadors. If you would like to create a #WhyWeDoResearch hub, please contact @ClaireW_UK or @keeling_michael

The first ever #whywedoresearch ambassador hub is made up of academics from the School of Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia. We are proud and excited to become a part of this successful, international campaign which started on our doorstep two years ago.

The hub consists of four colleagues, Deborah Harrison, Dr Niamh Kennedy, Dr Nicola Handcock and Dr Kath Mares. You can read about our interests and passions in the individual blogs. All of us want to make a difference to global health challenges in various ways; doing research, publishing findings, creating new treatments and interventions and inspiring new generations of healthcare professionals to love research as much as we do.

We will involve more colleagues and PhD students over the next few weeks and months, look out for us on Twitter @UEA_Health

​Happy birthday #whywedoresearch!

@UEA_Health

Dr Nicola Hancock Lecturer in Physiotherapy, Acquired Brain injury Rehabilitation Alliance, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia​

As a highly specialist physiotherapist and NHS team leader in stroke rehabilitation, I worked as part of an inter-disciplinary team to enhance the lives of people recovering from stroke, from the acute phase through to later stage rehabilitation. Always seeking to develop my knowledge, promote my profession and engage nationally and internationally with colleagues in the field, I served as Chair of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists for four years and have an ongoing position on the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party at the Royal College of Physicians, where I am the lead representative for Physiotherapy. Despite this “extra-curricular” activity, I became convinced that I could do even more to enable and assist people with stroke- so it became clear that a research career was calling me, and in 2008, I left a safe leadership position in the NHS to become a full-time PhD student with Professor Valerie Pomeroy and the ABIRA team at UEA. What a change….!

I finished my PhD in 2013 (Yes, you can do it. You should do it. I did it. Contact me…..), having fulfilled my other ambition to become a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at UEA in 2012. It isn’t always easy to balance the demands of a busy Faculty, the research activity, writing papers and grants and teaching and supporting students (that’s the “understatement of the year” section complete) but I would not change my career pathway for anything. To have had the privilege of working hands-on with people with stroke every day, progressing from junior physiotherapist to team leader, then to use that knowledge as a platform for working with one of the next (nay, the best!) stroke rehabilitation research teams in the world has been fantastic, as well as an enormous responsibility which drives my ambition to help enhance lives even more. ​

But I still have lots to do. Currently I am working the Design Council UK on a project to develop a device to improve the ability to walk after a stroke, and we are preparing a major grant application to support this work. I have just published some of my PhD results (http://www.physiotherapyjournal.com/article/S0031-9406(16)30482-5/pdf) and am working on a couple of other papers. I am about to attend UK Stroke Forum where I will join my colleagues from the RCP in launching the National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke 2016 and the Concise Guide for Physiotherapy….(and I do have a personal life, promise….I love living in rural Norfolk; walking, running, reading, being with my lovely family and generally trying to embody a healthy lifestyle, another responsibility we health professionals have!)

Dr Kath Mares Lecturer in Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia​​

Hello my name is Kath Mares and I am a physiotherapy lecturer and researcher at the University of East Anglia. My main area of interest is around promoting movement recovery in people after acquired brain injury such as stroke. I am particularly keen to work with people who are in the later stages of recovery from stroke and who are back in the community and living at home. My early research focussed on one intervention called Functional Strength Training and I and other colleagues travelled the breadth and depth of Norfolk to deliver this exercise therapy to people in their own homes. I have some great stories from the participants we worked with but one of the things that they all found a challenge was the distances they would have to travel to see their therapists. This got me thinking about how we as physiotherapists can work with people from further afield geographically but still enable them to carry out their exercises.

I am now involved in a project with the clinical therapy stroke team in Norfolk to develop and app (a mobile application for a phone or table for those who are unsure what this is). The app is designed so that the therapists prescribing the exercises can upload these to and so provide better demonstration and instruction of an individual’s exercise programme. This trial is in its early stages and we will only be testing it with people in hospital and under the care of the Early Supported Discharge team now but we have great hopes of developing a much bigger resource that will allow two-way communication between the therapist and their patient. In the long term this may prevent some of the travel that service users have to carry out to see their therapists. ​I have also been involved in other projects where we are trying to develop innovative devices to help facilitate movement recovery and make it fun! One of these projects was again a fantastic experience bringing together service users, clinicians, software developers and researchers. We started with an idea and a blank canvas and ended up with a prototype ankle rehabilitation device which uses ankle movement to play games on a TV screen. We are now in the process of seeking funding for prototype 2. It’s been a steep but exciting learning curve using my research knowledge to help shape the development of new and innovative rehabilitation devices and the sky is the limit!

Follow me on Twitter @Kath1872

Dr Niamh KennedyLecturer in Rehabilitation Neuroscience, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia

My background is in Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience, primarily focused on the brain and its influence on behaviour. After having neurosurgery in my adolescence, I was fascinated to understand the brain better, particularly its fantastic capacity to change and recover which led ultimately to me doing a PhD in this area. By better understanding the brain, I believe that it can help inform us on how to maximise recovery after injury or stroke. I believe quality research is so important to allow us to delve into the brain and its working but also to use these findings to develop robust trials and provide an evidence base for patients. I enjoy carrying out both small scale studies and being part of large multi-centred trials. As both of these are crucial to the development of research. I am passionate about teaching and helping students see the benefits of research not only to test interventions but to be informed, evidence based professionals that are not afraid of research but embrace it.

I work as part of the ABIRA– Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Alliance team. ABIRA works to enhance the benefits of rehabilitation by (a) facilitating implementation of research findings into practice and (b) undertaking primary research to add new knowledge. Members of ABIRA are drawn from academic, NHS and independent sector settings around Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. ABIRA’s purpose is to link research and clinical practice to optimise the benefits of rehabilitation for people who have sustained a brain injury through disease or trauma. I am involved in research to better help us understand the brain and its impact on recovery.

https://www.uea.ac.uk/health-sciences/people/profile/niamh-kennedySee more on ABIRAs work at http://www.abira.ac.uk/ or @ABIRAgroup​Follow me on Twitter @dr_niamh

Deborah HarrisonSenior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia

I am a qualitative researcher, mainly because I’m nosey and like to find out what people really think and feel. In health research the lived experience of service users is vital knowledge in making people’s lives better. As an occupational therapist my passion is to help people to get the most out of life and to have every opportunity to participate fully.

​I teach qualitative research to students who are studying on our pre-registration programmes in occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy at both undergraduate and Masters level. I enjoy facilitating their curiosity about what helps people and what doesn’t. I like to push them to be really critical about what they read in research papers. I also supervise student dissertations in my main areas of interest, mental health, combat injury and occupational science. I often remind students that although we might observe that certain interventions have benefit, what we don’t know is whether people would have improved anyway over time, or whether something else would have worked more effectively. We can’t spend vital public funding on interventions just because we think they help.​In 2015 I received a UEA Community Engagement Award for my voluntary work with military charities providing free consultancy on digital media and occupational therapy. I currently work with The Baton; supporting the military family - www.thebaton.co.uk and Surf Action; providing evidence-based interventions for people who have served in the Armed Forces and their families - www.surfaction.co.uk. We need much more research to help us to understand what really works to support people who have served in the Armed Forces, particularly people living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There’s a lot of charities and organisations that mean well and they are providing opportunities for people to participate in wonderful activities, but we don’t really know, especially in the long term, if this funding is being spent wisely.

Why I teach research; to inspire the next generation of healthcare professions to be the very best evidence-based practitioners.​Why I do research; to ensure that people who have served their country get the very best help and support to have a good life free from the trauma of combat.

Follow me on Twitter @DebbiiHarrison

]]>Sun, 20 Nov 2016 21:11:50 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/adding-value-together-by-nhsrdforumHello, my name is Kate and I am part of the NHS R&D Forum Management Team.

​When I first agreed to write a #whywedoresearch blog I was thrilled. Such a great campaign and dedicated, passionate team that I very much wanted to support. I decided early on that it would be about ‘value’ as I thought there was a lot to say. As a community of health & care research management, support and leadership professionals we do andshould be adding value to patients and the system; it would be a fantastic opportunity and how difficult could it be?

​As it happened, understanding what we mean by value was a little trickier than I first thought; did we mean value as in ‘worth’ and ‘amount’ (like doing better or more research), or value as in ‘principle’ and ‘judgement’ (like doing research is good)?

​Communicate don’t complicate!

For anyone who is naturally inclined towards a longer sentence ‘thinking in hashtags’ can be an extremely useful tool! Nailing your message in very few words is really hard but it occurred to me that the 15 characters #whywedoresearch speaks a thousand.

My son Johnny is taking part in research at school to find out more about the impact of running a daily mile

#whywedoresearch through all its contributors, shows us very powerfully why research is of value and why research must have value. Bringing people and professionals together it has helped to realise what research can mean and gives voice to the individual value people’s research journey has added for them.

Through its huge and continuing success it also tells us that research is valued and like other campaigns from the heart, shows that people are valued most. #hellomynameis is another campaign (http://hellomynameis.org.uk/) that communicates the value in a simple introduction, which as a professional shows that you care and as a patient shows that you matter. These are simple messages about valuing people that make a big difference.

It was becoming clearer that perhaps #researchmatters because we value people, and their health and wellbeing, but #whatresearchmatters depends upon what matters most to them?Adding value together The role of the Forum is to bring the research management, support and leadership community for health and care together, to act as a connected group of individuals to ensure benefit to them, and to make a difference through good practice. The value is in being and acting together for shared purpose.

​We are now open for bookings, abstracts and exhibitors for “Adding Value Together 2017’ our annual conference for the community to come together in one place once a year. http://www.annualrdforum.org.uk. We have also just published our draft strategy http://www.rdforum.nhs.uk/content/for-consultation-draft-strategy-2017-2022/ for consultation and we would appreciate as much feedback as possible. You can download our wheel of activities to show all the activities an R&D function in the NHS might undertake here. http://www.annualrdforum.org.uk/rd-functions-wheel/Thank you #whywedoresearch is fuelled by the passion, commitment and endeavour of its champions. People who do things for people, and who take part to add value to their mission. These values are the cornerstone of the Forum too.#Whywedoresearch is a success because of people, and I for one, value it!

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]]>Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:57:15 GMThttp://whywedoresearch.weebly.com/guest-blog-new/research-reflections-whywedoresearch-sharing-and-dissemination-by-sarah-russell-learnhospice-and-melanie-hodson-hospiceuk-blog-4-of-spotlight-on-hospice-research-monthSharing and dissemination is a key part of research – translating knowledge into practice, enabling access to information as well as stimulating ideas and new relationships.

#whywedoresearch is concerned with encouraging and harnessing a community of inquiring hearts and minds and enabling care. Hospice care, wherever it takes place is also concerned with integrating our hearts, minds and hands to provide care for people and their families. A Haiku poem could say:

Hospice UK https://www.hospiceuk.org/ is committed to supporting our community to consistently use, support and generate evidence to ensure quality of care. Whether it is sharing the 352 conference abstracts submitted in response to the Call for Papers ,hosting the ‘Real World Research Café’ at the annual conference in November 2016, supporting regional hubs, building relationships with universities, or defining research readiness / activity and workforce needs: #hospicecareis #whywedoresearch.

​So for the last blog for #whywedoresearch Hospice Research Month here are a few (not comprehensive) hospice and palliative care research resources that I use regularly. Many of the resources provide links to other organisations or resources.​NB. Please use the scroll bar to move the documents up and down